Delhi stands at 52nd on list of 60 safest cities

NEW DELHI: The national capital has been ranked 52 among 60 cities of the world in The Economist's Safe Cities Index (SCI) 2019 which measures safety in urban areas. Delhi's ranking fell nine places from its 43rd position in 2017.

The study measured indicators like women's safety, the prevalence of crime, level of police engagement and perception of safety among residents.

According to Delhi police data, the total number of heinous crime cases registered till August 31 this year was 2,00,485, which is much higher than last year's 1,574,62 cases reported during the first eight months of the previous year.

The number of non-heinous cases has also increased. Last year, 1,53,586 cases were registered while this year, the total number till last month was 1,96,872.

Among the crimes against women, the number of rape cases and cases of cruelty by husband/in-laws has also seen an increase.

“There is no serious effort on part of the central government, which is responsible for the law and order situation of Delhi. They haven't woken up on the cases of rapes, murders, and kidnapping being reported every day. There is no mechanism to implement legislations and no political will,” said women rights activist Annie Raja, adding that security systems in place like the state helpline number for women also fail to work properly.

She further said that the tussle between the Centre and the state government was worsening the security situation in Delhi. “There should be no political agendas coming in between while preventing the crimes to happen.”

Activist Shabnam Hashmi said that as overall violence in society is increasing the crime rate in the capital is affected by it. “The CM had proposed free public transport to women but it has not been implemented yet.

It would have made public spaces safer. The only way to make women and children secure is to have more of them in the public sphere,” she said.